Re: [pbmserv-dev] multiplayer ratings

["David J Bush" <twixt@cstone.net>]

| For two player games the ratings are zero sum so that
| if a subpopulation of people play a number of games
| against each other, their average rating remains
| constant. ...

Technically, rating changes with provisional players is
not zero sum. There is a bias towards 1720  or some
value close to there. This bias is so strong, even if
you are on a winning streak you will continue to lose
rating points when you win as you approach your 20th
game, if your rating was above 1720.

When this was happening to me, I detested it, but now
that I am established in my preferred games, I want all
newbies to suffer like I did. To change it now would
reduce the accuracy of the ratings, which after all,
have validity only with regards to other PBMserv ratings
for that game, and not for any other rating system on
any other server.

Of course, if the bias could be reduced **and then** all
the ratings recalculated for all games that are in the
archives, that would be great. But it's just a number,
and hardly seems worth the trouble.

David